Should Reparations Be Given To Relatives of Slaves? (page 5)

vienne

How about the descendants of those brought here as indentured servants, slaves for seven years, sometimes prostituted? White males and females from England ...

Enormous amounts of money have already been thrown down this rat hole with little to no return. Enough already! I would support one way tickets to Africa with no return but anyone that looks at Liberia very quickly realizes what the awful results of that would be.

TD

Should Reparations Be Given To Relatives of Slaves?

No.

It's not that erasing this blight on our history would be a bad thing.

It's that our government has no money except that which it extracts from its citizenry.

You can't repair a past injustice by taking money from a group who's culpability is either debatable or utterly nonexistent.

What did Native Americans have to do with slavery? Or Asian Americans? Or Jewish people who immigrated to escape some bad memories after World War II? Or African Americans who's ancestors were not slaves? Or any of the dozens of other groups who's ancestors experienced injustices of their own?

nonjwspouse

No No No, reparations at this point in history, when diversity has been a rule in the workforce for decades, forcing employers to employ on the basis of the race, regardless of who is better qualified, plus numerous scholarships that are only available for one race, ( None for the white race only) In this time of schools also being under the diversity rule, refusing some students because they are white ( and male most specifically) and accepting others because they are not.

In this day and age, reparations would be like saying " you are not smart enough, work hard enough, have the backbone enough to make it on your your own. For minorities that this is a demeaning insult. One that means they are "less than", and can't do it on their own.

We already do pour money into poor neighborhoods, and the poor schools. It isn't working on those in the system currently, that feel entitled to handouts and refuse educate, and/or to work their way out of it. Those who do make it out of poverty ( regardless of race) have done it themselves, (only a hand-up sometimes for some, which is in place, and has been for decades) and that is spectacular.The biggest disease on the poor communities, is the result of the welfare system making it monetarily beneficial for the women to mot marry, ( no father around for the kids) and have lots of children. This is a plague killing the strength of family units. It contributes to the males in this community feeling worthless.

To hand out reparations to this generation of people of color, specifically, is insulting those who today have the same opportunities as the other people in the US, and through intelligence, hard work, and determination, made their living to get away from handouts. It also reinforces those who think the government owes them a lifestyle today, know the way around the welfare system, and use it with pride. ( regardless of race, again)

The Irish, etc, that sold children into servant slavery, were treated worse by the slave owners than the ones with dark skin. Irish were considered inferior in strength. They also cost less not worth as much.

If reparations are to be complete all of these must be included. This is an impossible task. Just think about the poor, Appalachian, white Irish male. He is being discriminated against currently, and called racist, then told he has "privilege". Go into those hills and see for yourself how much of a joke the "privilege" is. Tell that to the economically poor, "privileged white" children of those hills.

blondie

EiReparations mean much more than money, No amount of money will ever give back to people what they have lost. That is true when it comes to victims of child sexual abuse. There are some things, that no amount of money can replace. It is not the money, it is the public acknowledgement that the perpetrator and those that supported or concealed the crime are responsible, and the victim deserves an honest and direct apology from those people. Now that may not be possible, because all the people directly involved at that time may be dead. But as a group even after that time, we do share a community responsibility.

I knew a Japanese-American man who had been in those camps and he lobbied Congress not to get money but to get a public apology in a place where that would be recorded for all to see and/or hear, an apology from the body in the US that represents past and current policies in this matter, is Congress, including the people they represent.

Some may not agree with me about other groups like Japanese-Americans, Native Americans, Jews are coming from a similar position. I think this shows a lack of deeper investigation and talking to these other groups and/or individuals. I think many people who do this will see many similar negative affects.

It is an emotional topic, but I think many people in each group would rather have a public apology from the people who committed the crime against them to admit their part in the crime. Will the apology be sincere, most likely not. Especially when the person apologizing is not the person who did the crime. The pope's apologizing for these things does not absolve the individual from apologizing to the person he/she hurt deeply. Don't hold your breath for individual elders, BOEs, WTS administrators to every even give a fake apology.)

Why get into a seemingly heated discussion about who was hurt worse. It is not a contest. How can you quantify that kind of pain and compare it to other people's pain. I see that everyone was hurt deeply and nothing will ever completely take that pain away.

Edited to correct a confusing double negative.

Simon

What about the Native Americans or the American Indians, if you prefer? There's a group that was treated pretty bad. Took their land, their culture, tried to force white man ways and religion on them, and when that didn't work, tried to exterminate them.

Their land? Is this like South Africa where someone walked somewhere once and they think that gives ownership forever more? Should the rest of humanity huddle on an overcrowded island so nomads are free to wander about and pitch their tents wherever they want? The land was bought and paid for.

The claim of genocide is a myth. There's no evidence of any attempt at genocide, just periods of brutal conflict where atrocities were committed on both sides (but white commanders where prosecuted for, which destroys the argument). The natives also committed massacres, was that also attempted genocide?

And culture, what culture?! In how many thousand years they managed to come up with banging a drum and wailing. That's the music covered and there's not much else left - typical things quoted as "inventions" are furry boots (wow, someone in a cold climate made clothing!!). The rest was brutal savagery - regularly butchering each other, raping, and taking slaves. This "noble savage" that was hard done to by the white man is a myth. In terms of culture, they built nothing and added pretty much nothing to humanity.

The recent report in Canada shows it still happens - terrible rates of violence against women within native communities (but apparently, "we" are to blame for that too, not them). There's a reason native women have the highest rate of marrying outside of their ethnicity.

joey jojo

During the period of slavery, life was tougher and crime and punishment was brutal for everyone.

Children were still being hung for crimes in England, flogging was a common sentence.

All of us have ancestors that have suffered atrocities because of ethnic differences or religious differences. It's not fair and it's immoral. I guess the question is, at what point does it become unhealthy and unhelpful to keep rehashing the past?

slimboyfat

The land was bought and paid for.

I knew I shouldn’t open this thread.

LoveUniHateExams

Here's another issue with 'reparations': it's only European societies it's being demanded of, as if only European societies colonised and plundered.

Activists seem to think that the white man is uniquely evil. Well, that's bollocks.

Of course, other societies built empires, colonised and enslaved others.

Should the Arabs pay reparations for their empires?

How about the Ottoman Turks? Should they pay reparations for the Armenian genocide? (Unlike Europeans vs Native Americans, the Armenian genocide actually was a genocide.)

What about the Ethiopian empire?

Also, it makes me laugh that Native Americans have been spoken of as victims in this thread, as if that was all they were. The Native Americans participated in slavery, before white people landed in America, and afterwards, where Native Americans owned tons of black slaves. Many fought on the South's side - they wanted to keep their slaves.

The Japanese, too, were much more than just victims. Y'know they had their own empire, the Japanese empire. Should Japan pay reparations to all the people they tortured, raped, beheaded, etc.?

Ever read about the sacking of Nanking?

Ever read how the Japanese treated POWs in WW2? They were cruel bastards.

Here's a very important point that we should all learn: victimhood in the past didn't go one way.

And here's a second: people alive today are not victims of what went before, decades, centuries in the past.